Starring Sally J Freidman as Herself
by Sn1963
Summary: This is a review of a Judy Blume novel for older children. I liked it as a teenager and I hope that you'll also like it


And Sally J Freidman As Herself

This is my review of the story Judy Blume has written about a young girl from the nineteen forties. The book starts out in 1945, the day WWII is over, little eight-year-old Sally is at the Jersey shore, along with her grandmother, her parents and her twelve-year-old brother Douglas. After finding out the war is over, the family walks the boardwalk with others, the children are tooting horns and shouting, along with the parents, Sally becomes ill, throws up and begins running a fever. Her mother comfort her with ginger ale and cool cloths.

Two years later, Sally is now ten and her brother Douglas is fourteen. One Sunday afternoon, Sally overhears her mother talking to her father, her brother Douglas fell in a creek and broke his arm while being chased by a crazy man. That night, Douglas is also diagnosed with a severe kidney disease, the boy almost dies but recovers. Their father is told by his doctor that Douglas needs sunshine and warm weather to fully recover so they find a realtor that helps them find an apartment in Miami Florida. Sally's father is a dentist and can't go for the winter, so Sally's mom, and grandmother take the children and go. Before this happened, Sally, who is Jewish found out that her grandma's sister and her daughter, Sally's aunt and cousin had died in a concentration camp. Sally, who has a very good imagination makes up a story about her beautiful cousin escaping Germany and finding Sally in New Jersey.

Sally takes her home, and since the cousin is sick, gives her ginger ale and keeps the young woman cool from her fever with a cloth. Sally is called a hero in the local newspaper. The next day her father drives the family to the train station. He and Sally are close, Sally gives her father his treatment, which was one kiss on the cheek, three quick hugs, and a butterfly kiss on his cheek, which was an eyelash blink. On the train, Sally makes friends with a black woman and her three children, the youngest was a baby and Sally gets to hold and cuddle her. After Sally goes back to her seat, she falls asleep.

Sally wakes up the next morning to see the family is gone, they are now in the South and the black family had to move to another car, Sally thinks this is unfair. When they arrive in Miami, they see the place they are staying, It's small and consists of only one bedroom and they give the room to Sally's grandma. Sally and her mom sleep on a sofa bed and Douglas sleeps on a strange bed that to Sally's amazement comes down when you open a door. They meet the other families from the apartment. She makes friends with the next door neighbor's which consist of a mom, two daughters, one ten like Sally and the youngest six. They also have a cat Sally loves.

When Sally arrives at her new school, which is within walking distance, sees that she is overdressed for the Miami weather. She pretends she needs to go to the toilet so she can take off her socks since all or most of the girls wear sandals. When she sees that there are no doors on any of the toilet stalls, she tells herself she won't go to the toilet at school. At lunch, she sits next to a girl named Barbara. She is forced to eat her most hated food, spaghetti and has to take small sips of her milk. The floor lady tells Sally she has to eat everything on her plate because there are children starving in Europe.

After school is over, she walks home as quickly as she can, and she is desperate to pee. But as arrives home, she wets herself and runs to the bathroom in tears. Her mother talks to her and Sally tells her about her day at school. Sally is taken to a store and bought a pair of sandals and some cooler clothes. She is also given permission to eat lunch at home. Her brother Douglas teases Sally when she gets head lice. Sally and her mother are told by the school nurse that people can catch them from used combs and ribbons and they are not caused by having dirty hair.

"I keep my children's hair immaculate!"

Mrs. Freidman angrily informs the nurse. She is sent to the drugstore for some special shampoo for Sally's hair. Later on a neighbor's daughter they affectionately call Bubbles gets pregnant by a Christian and runs away to get married. Her family says they disowned her. Grandma angrily called them "machuganas" the Jewish word for crazy people. She tearfully tells Sally that before her mother was born, she had a baby boy that died from crib death at the age of two months.

"They should be ashamed! Disowning their child. I refuse to go to their house for Shiva."

Later on, Sally is stung by a Portuguese Man Of War and the family join a pool club. She falls in love with a boy from Georgia. And her friend is told to keep the crush a secret. Later on, Sally is teased by a group of boys that call her Sally Never mind because the boy from Georgia asked what her name was she tells him her first name but when he asks her what her last name was she told him Never mind. She gets into a fight with her friend because she knows the boy's name.

Another girl in her apartment lives with her grandma and rumors are flying that Adolph Hitler, long since dead is still alive and is posing as an elderly Jewish man. Sally sees an old man reading a Jewish newspaper called The Forward, he is also a man that hands out candy to the children and Sally is scared of him. One day her other friend falls down and scrapes her knee, As Sally runs to her grandmothers the girl walks home. When they arrive to see Shelby missing, Sally bursts into tears and tells grandma tat Shelby is dead and Hitler did it. Grandma laughs and tells Sally

"God forbid Sally! Hitler is dead come on and I'll show you Shelby is still alive."

Much to Sally's relief, Shelby is safe and sound and is eating Challah bread at her grandma's kitchen table. Later on, Sally finds out that a contest at a shoe store will let one lucky little girl go to the premiere of a new Margaret O Brien movie, The Unfinished Dance. This is Sally's favorite star. The girl is promised a dinner with the child star and pictures of the child with the little star. All the girl has to do is be able to fit into a box toe ballet slipper that Margaret wore in the movie.

Sally is convinced she will be the winner and sits down at the shoe store. She thinks that this must be the way Cinderella felt as she was trying on the glass slipper for the prince. When the man tells her that her foot's too little for the shoe, she cries and goes home. Later on her grandma and the neighbor's grandma tries to get the girls to talk again, Then the families cat is hit by a car and the girl forgets about her feud with Sally. About a month later, sally and Douglas go to the pet store and buy the girl a kitten.

As winter comes to an end Sally and her family are about to return to New Jersey and one of her classmates, Peter Horn stein asks Sally to attend his brothers wedding because he's going to marry their teacher Miss Swetnick. Peter kisses Sally after the wedding and Douglas teases Sally telling her she might marry Pater someday. Sally also hears about her aunt having a baby and Grandma gives her a book about the facts of life.

The book is good, but I wouldn't recommend it to a child under twelve, it has inappropriate words and I believe the book is a bit harsh on the family. Sally's family stays at an all Jewish apartment and the classroom Sally goes to is all Jewish, as is the teacher. They are segregated in the community and the school.


End file.
